Timer
by AutomaticHeartache
Summary: Soulmate AU where everything is the same except that everyone can have a device installed that will tell them when they will meet their soulmate. (Concept borrowed from the movie Timer, which is great and you should see it!). Supercorp slowburn with a little Sanvers thrown in for good measure!
1. Chapter 1: Checkmate

Chapter1  
Checkmate

"Are you scared?" Kara's wide blue eyes darted from the brochure in her hands to her sister and back again.

"Pfft, of course not." Alex tossed her long red hair over her shoulder defiantly, but a slight twitch pulled at the corner of her mouth betraying her wavering confidence. Kara watched as her sister pulled at her jean skirt and then ran nervous fingers along the hem of her Black Watch plaid button-down. Picking her way across the clean, crowded showroom, the younger blonde slipped her hand into her sister's and Alex squeezed it, grateful for the distraction.

Their grasp of sisterhood was still tenuous, a fragile bond that had grown in halting fits and starts, but in this moment, the redhead seemed happy to have a hand to hold. Kara knew that she sometimes said the wrong thing, asked the wrong questions, forgot the English word for everyday objects, but in this moment, she wasn't some alien girl sharing Alex's room, she was family, providing comfort on one of the biggest days of her sister's life.

Today, Alex was officially sixteen years old. Earlier that morning, they were woken with fanfare; there were presents waiting at the breakfast table, and Eliza grew only slightly misty, wishing their father could be there to celebrate with them. And while Kara was still uncertain when it came to most Earth customs, she knew what turning sixteen meant to Alex – to everyone on the planet, it seemed.

Today was the day Alex could get her Timer.

Kara didn't quite understand the Timer or its popularity, as they had never had any technology on Krypton for determining pair bonding, and it seemed one of the more alien concepts to her. To think that one could, upon their sixteenth birthday, have a small strip installed on their forearm that would then alert them when they came in contact with her pre-destined mate. Even with all the advanced research in the fields of science and technology on her home planet, Kara found the concept perplexing, that a machine could understand the vast complexities of human behavior – of fate, of future, of the heart and the head – and accurately predict the ideal mate. And yet, everyone around them seemed to trust in its infallibility. The papers – both local and national – were full-to-bursting with success story after success story, of people finding their soulmates, thanks to a little strip of metal and plastic.

Eliza had explained that the tech inside the Timer was, at least partly, alien; it was able to quantify and build algorithms that accounted for the ineffable – all those things which couldn't be explained – to find the perfect match for each person on earth. Apparently, fate and future could be converted into a mathematical equation, personality and preference were all just data points, it made Kara's head hurt just to think about it, so she preferred not to.

True, there were people who chose to do things the old fashioned way; those backward few who rebelled against the idea of circuits reading their stars, divining their future, and determining matters of the heart. They believed in organic love, either matched before the device's invention, or simply rejecting the concept as a whole.

Alex was not one of them, she couldn't wait.

"I hope it's Darek from poetry class." She had said in the car on their way to the installation center, "He just got his Timer last week and it's totally dashed."

 _Dashed_ , as Alex explained, was what happened when whomever you were destined to be with hadn't gotten their Timer yet. After a Timer was installed, Kara was told, one of two things would happen, "One: it immediately starts counting down, having calculated the exact moment you're going to meet your soulmate, then it'll beep when the moment happens," Alex was gesticulating excitedly, obviously eager about her impending installation. "Two: it just shows a series of dashed lines, meaning that your soulmate hasn't gotten their Timer installed, or they've had it removed." Alex added, with some disbelief, "as if I would ever think of removing _my_ Timer."

Eliza, having found her husband before the days of digital pre-destination, had to ask Alex to settle down several times on their way to the center, "Remember sweetie, whatever happens, and no matter what you decide, you still have so much love in your life. Just because you're old enough for a Timer doesn't mean that you're _obligated_ to get one. You _always_ have a choice, Alex."

At this Alex had groaned audibly, throwing her head back and letting out a protracted whiney, "Moooooom," while her younger sister, trailing her in age by a mere year and a half, shifted uncomfortably in the car.

Kara had been here on Earth for just under two years and had already heard so many stories about Timers, both good and bad, that she was simultaneously intrigued and terrified by them.

One girl in Alex's class had gotten hers installed a few months ago only to have its readout start counting down to a date over forty years in the future. The girl had essentially collapsed at the shock and, after a week or so, adopted an aggressively apathetic attitude toward the whole thing. Two weeks after that, she had her Timer removed.

A man in North Dakota had become so obsessed with the countdown on his Timer that it actually drove him to the point of psychological breakdown. When the moment finally came, his soulmate ended up being the psychiatrist performing his intake evaluation; it was not a great first impression, to say the least.

After hearing stories of failed Timer pairings – and there were a handful of others, tucked among the millions of success stories – Kara didn't know if she ever wanted one.

Not that she had the luxury of choice; it was here she and Alex diverged. At present, there was no way to install a Timer on a girl with bulletproof skin and, somewhere in the back of her mind, Kara was grateful for the obligatory opt-out. She'd never have to worry about the potential fixation on a singular point in time, never had to be beholden to another person. Besides, she wasn't even from this planet, who knew if the Timer could even pair-bond a Kryptonian.

A woman in a bright red, collarless pique shirt was talking to Eliza now, going over some legal paperwork, and Alex's hand was growing hot in Kara's own.

"Are you _sure_ you want to do this, Alex?" the blonde girl looked over at her sister with uncertain blue eyes. "Like, _super_ sure?"

"I'm sure," Alex nodded and squeezed her hand once more, "you don't have to be so upset Kara, it'll only hurt for a second."

Kara steeled herself, determined to be stalwart and supportive, "Who says I'm upset?"

Her sister turned and poked at the spot just between Kara's knit eyebrows, "Crinkle!" and both girls erupted into giggles as the installation technician came over to begin the procedure.

The process ended up being far faster than Kara thought it should be for something with so much significance and, before they knew it, they were all back in the car on their way home.

"Twenty seven seems so far away, I could be an entirely different person by then," Alex murmured rubbing a thumb over the smooth display screen on her right wrist. "I wonder who he'll be."

Kara looked from her sister's wrist to her wistful face, then turned blue eyes to the landscape speeding by and let escape a small sigh.

* * *

Lena Luthor rubbed her left wrist without thinking and received a quick swat on the back of her hand.

"Leave it alone, Lee. You know what Lillian will say if she catches you fussing with it. You're lucky she let you get it at all." Her brother's teasing grin shone, white and gleaming as he reached over to capture her rook with his bishop. "Check."

"Why wouldn't she? Our company helped develop the tech in the first place." Lena slid her queen between her king and Lex's bishop. "Besides, it's not like it matters, it's dashed anyway."

Lena glanced down at the strip of metal and plastic on her wrist, blank, save for a series of short black strokes across the display. She couldn't decide whether she was pleased at its silent refusal to fulfill its digital obligation, or frustrated at the denial of yet another traditional teen experience.

"You know how she feels about them. Besides, It's dashed _now_ ," Lex countered as he jumped his knight over one of Lena's pawns. "It won't be forever. Then Lionel and Lillian can stress over _you_ for a change." He swept her knight from the board. "Check.

Lena sighed, considering her next move. She doubted that even if her Timer had started to countdown upon its installation, Lionel and Lillian would treat her with the same stoic distance they did now. As for their hesitance toward Timers in general, Lex knew better than anyone that while the Luthor's had, in fact, helped to fund and develop the technology behind the devices, their personal history with them was less than stellar.

Lex's Timer had been installed when he was nineteen and, as it flashed to life, the face read an appalling low number – he was mere weeks away from his soulmate encounter. He had reacted with poise and grace as Lillian clapped her hands in delight, talking animatedly about wedding planning and the future of the Luthor legacy. Four years had passed since his installation date and save for regular visits for family dinners, Lex remained as solitary as an oyster, the only evidence of his Timer the two dime-sized scars on the inside of his wrist, long since healed after its removal. He had ripped it out within days of its implantation, and refused to pay it any heed. On the date he was to meet his soulmate, he barricaded himself in his study till the day had passed completely, shouting that he alone was master of his fate.

Lena still had nightmares about the day she climbed the stairs to find Lex clinging to consciousness on the top landing, lying prostate in a pool of his own blood as it streamed in macabre rivulets from the two puncture points on his forearm. There had been a faint brown ring on the rug for months afterward, outlining the perimeter of her brother's blood loss. Strangely enough, it did not deter her from wanting a Timer of her own. Lex had made his choice and Lena was destined to make hers, even if it caused her path to diverge from her brother's.

"What if it never starts counting?" the dark-haired girl captured her brother's rook and settled back into her seat. She drew a long strand of hair over her shoulder and began winding it through her fingers.

"I'm _really_ not the right person to ask, Lee." Lex crossed his arms as his mouth puckered and pulled to one side.

"No, I mean, if the TimerTech is so advanced that it can determine who I'm going to end up with, does it also know for certain that my match will even get a Timer? What if they never do, and I'm just stuck waiting?"

She watched as Lex leaned forward and swept his knight in a decisive curve around her own.

"First of all, I don't know how smart it all actually is. You're starting to get into the realm of 'fate' and 'prediction' and when you mix questions of destiny with science, the results are always messy. Check."

"But isn't that the point? That the tech is supposed to be all-knowing? Like, somewhere there's an omniscient super-computer sitting at that center of a warehouse that knows the whole of human existence." Lena knit her eyebrows, and blew out the exasperated breath she had been holding.

"Lee, even if we did have some fancy Zoltar machine tucked away on a black site, don't you think we would have it doing more important things than finding you a boyfriend?"

Lena glared at him, and, glancing at the board for a brief moment, shuffled her queen over three squares. "Who says I want a _boy_ friend?" she asked then, sporting a condescending smirk, knocked Lex's king over with a decidedly childish flick.

"Checkmate."


	2. Chapter 2: One

A/N: I feel like the alien frat boy is a trigger for Supercorp people, so... WARNING: he's in this chapter (a bit. At the end). He's dating Kara. He's making potentially idiotic choices. I will say it's not a permanent situation, as we all know who the real OTP is: Kara and potstickers. Wait... I mean Kara and Lena. As always, thanks for reading and thanks even more than that for your feedback! If you moseyed over here from my other stories, hi! I swear the one(s) that need updating will be updated soon!

Chapter 2  
One

The pristine white walled foyer, just off the elevator, was far too quiet for Kara's liking. A vague feeling of unease curled into her chest as she crossed the few steps to stand in front of Lena's office doors. She had become so accustomed to the cheery greeting of Lena's assistant, Jess, that its absence physically unsettled her. True, it had taken the two women some time to develop the camaraderie they now enjoyed, but nevertheless, she missed Jess' knowing looks as Kara breezed passed her desk. She paused a moment, taking in the desk just to the right of the doors: it was neat and orderly, undisturbed, Kara noted with some curiosity.

As there was no sentry on guard, Kara paused a moment, training her ears on the office interior. No sound registered therein, so she tentatively pushed into Lena's office.

"Kara!" the dark-haired Luthor heiress rose, grinning broadly, as was her custom each time they met now. Lena's smile teased one to match from Kara's lips, and it rested there a moment before being replaced with concern.

"I didn't see Jess out there, is everything okay?"

Lena waved off her worry with a flourish of her pale wrist, bangles tinkling pleasantly, and a slight roll of her emerald eyes. "I gave her the day off."

"And this is somehow annoying to you." Kara raised a quizzical eyebrow.

Lena made a show of sighing and crossed to sit on the couch, motioning for the blonde to follow.

"Well, being without an assistant is always less than ideal, I suppose." She subconsciously ran fingers over the plastic panel embedded in her forearm and sank further into the couch.

If Lena was being perfectly honest with herself, most days it was easy to forget that she had a Timer at all, it was just a part of her life and in that respect, she was much like everyone else. Of course, she maintained it; she upgraded the software when it was necessary, back before the whole system went wireless, she even took it in a few times for the hardware upgrades – never could it be said that a Luthor was without the latest and greatest tech. But on the whole, she ignored it, just as she had done for the last several years.

Ten years, in point of fact, or was it more? Years of going through life watching others zero out and pair up. Years of reading more and more stories and studies touting the Timer as the most necessary piece of technology ever created. And why shouldn't it be? Love was one of man's most basic needs, so why shouldn't it hold a place of such high esteem? But through all the pomp and celebration, her own wrist stayed sullen and silent. If she had the greatest piece of modern technology, guaranteed to find her the perfect match, how was it she was still alone? Hadn't she been the biggest advocate for this tech? Hadn't she even helped to pioneer and then manufacture some of its most essential upgrades? And yet, when she caught sight of her wrist, the only thing staring back at her was a blank display, dashed, and despondent.

For a year or so when she was in the throes of her engineering studies, she had hacked it, forcing it to display some cheery affirmation or another, rather than the somber stroke of the dashed display. This carried her spirits for a time, but as with most temporary distractions, she eventually tired of that and fell in with a group of Lonelies – punks and hipsters who rejected their Timers, whether out of hopelessness, biological refusal, or philosophical opposition– and spent several months with a black band around her wrist in protest. And she wasted time during the wait; sleeping with girls whose Timer would zero out decades from now or days from now, because, in the end, it didn't mean anything if she wasn't their soulmate, their One.

Nothing meant anything without the one person who would mean everything. Or so they would have you believe.

But through all of this, she never had it removed. No matter how silly it seemed, how long she had gone without any sort of encouragement from the small device, she refused to part with it as her brother had done. Even now, when its presence in her life was little more than a nagging remembrance, she still hadn't ever considered its removal. She ran absent fingers over the smooth display, marveling over its persistent presence.

"Lena?" A soothing voice cut into her momentary reflection, "Are you alright?"

"What?" The CEO shook her head, hair from her high ponytail whipping from side to side behind her. "It's nothing, I was just thinking."

"About?"

"Fate, I suppose?" Lena said, her voice small and distant.

"Oh, is that all," Kara let her bag drop and lowered herself onto the couch opposite the pensive woman.

"Jess zeroes out today – that's why I gave her the day off – today's the day she meets her One, and I suppose it's making me, I don't know, melancholy?" The dark haired woman caught the end of her ponytail and began winding it around her fingers, letting it slip through and catching it again.

"Wait, are we talking about Timers?" Kara asked, pulling back slightly. "What happened to our light-hearted lunch plans?"

Lena laughed, but it sounded vaguely forced. "You're right, don't listen to me," she waved off the concern. "We can go whenever you're ready."

"No, no! That's not what I meant," Kara caught Lena's hand and steadied it, "I'm happy to sit here and talk about Timers all day long and all night, if that's what you need." She lowered their joined hands, "I mean, I'm probably going to have to have something delivered, because I'm starving –"

"When are you not starving?" Lena interjected.

"That's not the point." Kara smiled across the couch, attempting to convey in a single look all the comfort and support she hoped to provide. "The point is that I'm here for you and happy to help in anyway I can."

Lena's face fell into a strange configuration, caught somewhere between utter gratitude and confusion.

"Now, what's going on in that head of yours?" the blonde propped an elbow up on the back of the couch and settled in.

"Have you ever been in love, Kara?"

"I –" the blonde stammered.

"I'm sorry, that was rude."

"No, it's fine. It's just that," she joined her brows in concentration, uncertain how best to proceed, "I'm not really sure? I've never had a lot of room in my life for love, or rather, that kind of love, and I just don't know." She reached up to adjust her glasses, a nervous habit. "Recently, though, I've been thinking about it a lot and I may have found someone I could love."

Lena shifted and leaned slightly closer, her face strangely unreadable, "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, we've been spending more and more time together lately," she paused and noticed a grin start in one corner of Lena's mouth and slowly creep across dark red lips to meet the other, "and most of the time I really want to kill him, but then he'll do something insanely kind, or he'll kiss me, or make me laugh and I think – I think I could love him? But then I don't know. I find myself wondering, is he my One?"

"You say that like it's a question." Lena's tone was terse, suddenly, the hinting smile now abruptly absent, her body straight, closed.

"Isn't it, though? Isn't that what everyone asks?" Kara cocked her head to the side, searching for the warmth that had so suddenly evaporated from Lena's features.

"Not anymore, not really. Isn't that the point of Timers? That they take the guesswork out?" Lena countered.

"Oh," Kara went a bit pink around the ears, "I suppose it would, but I don't have one."

Lena seemed to perk up once more, percolating at this new information. "No? I assumed you would."

"Why?"

Lena's face adopted a slight pull of consideration, "You just seem like the type. Cheery, hopeful, looking for your One. You're so warm, open, easy to get along with. I don't know why one should imply the other, but for some reason it does, to me." She let her hair slip through her fingers a final time and began, instead, to fidget with the index finger of her right hand.

"You have a Timer, are you all of those things?" Kara had noticed the silver-gray of the device flash under Lena's bangles as she played with her hair.

"Actually?" Lena said through a sad smile, "I think having the Timer is the reason I'm not any of those things. Well, one of the reasons anyway, being a Luthor has, of course, ruthlessly worn down any hopes I might have of finding love, but my Timer certainly seems to have taken care of the rest."

"How long has it been dashed?" Kara asked with an open palm, inviting Lena to rest her forearm there for inspection. Lena fixed her with an inquisitive look before laying down her upturned wrist and the blonde simply said, "I just assumed."

For a moment they were both quiet as Kara ran delicate, cool fingers over the small strip of circuitry resting just above the surface of Lena's skin. The CEO, for her part, was taking great pains to steady her breathing, forcing even inhales chased by purposefully casual exhales. She hoped Kara couldn't hear the rattle of her heart as it beat like wings against her ribbed cage.

It's true that her complicated relationship with her Timer had caused no small amount of doubt and disillusionment where finding love was concerned, but Lena Luthor wasn't made of stone. Despite what the media might think, her heart hadn't iced over and even if it had, it had certainly thawed considerably during its time spent with this woman: Kara Danvers, her own personal ray of sunshine. Kara warmed her, heart and mind, body and soul, and any apathy Lena may have felt, any apprehension toward affection, all but evaporated in the heat of her presence. True, the fact that Kara was seeing someone – someone she might even love – had come as an unwarranted shock, but that was a problem for another time. For now, they were inches apart and Kara's fingers, having finished their inspection of her Timer, were now tracing lazy patterns on Lena's exposed wrist.

"How long?" the blonde asked, her eyes still trained down, watching the slow and steady blink of dashes across the CEO's Timer as her fingers wandered of their own accord.

"Too long." Lena tossed out in a way she hoped would come off as casual. "Most days I forget I even have it, and the other days, the harder days," she sighed, "I try to forget. What about you?"

"I wasn't biologically eligible when I was younger," this wasn't necessarily the truth, but neither was it an out-an-out lie. There had been a low percentage of the population whose body chemistry or biological makeup rendered the Timer inoperable. Such inconsistencies had been corrected with time and testing.

"And now?"

"Now, I just don't know. I am afraid that I'd get too wrapped up in the guarantee, you know? I feel like there's too much emphasis on validation, and not enough on love, chemistry, getting to know a person." Kara sighed, her fingers stalling slightly against the soft underside of Lena's pale wrist.

"You don't believe in the Timer."

"Oh, no. I do. Boy do I!" Kara laughed suddenly and her hand went to her glasses, instinctively. The subtle absence of warmth against the CEO's skin sent a slight shiver up Lena's spine. "I've seen it in action!"

"Explain." Lena's lips quirked up into a bemused grin.

"Okay, my sister – you remember Alex, right? - couldn't wait to get her Timer, I went with her when she got it installed and it immediately started counting down to a date more than ten years away." Kara was gesturing animatedly with one hand, the other resting, absentmindedly, back on Lena's forearm. "Even though it was counting down, she wouldn't zero out for years, so in the meantime, she would date occasionally. Every time she'd come home from a date with some boy she would tell me the same thing: it was fine. Not great, not love, just fine. Sometimes it wasn't even fine. Sometimes, she'd be upset: not fine.

"Eventually she started to feel like something might be wrong with her, she just never felt that 'thing' people feel. Never felt quite right with any of these guys, uncomfortable, especially, when things went further. She would talk to our mom about it and Eliza would say, 'It'll be different, Alex. You'll feel differently. Wait until you find your One.'"

Kara's body was charged; she was obviously excited to be telling her sister's story.

"And was it different?" Lena wondered aloud.

"Different is an understatement," Kara pushed out, swallowing a laugh. "So Alex is running interference after the attack on the president last year, remember? To hear her tell it, she catches sight of this cop supposedly moving in on her turf and her heart immediately drops into her stomach. She can't figure out why. So she goes over and pulls her whole 'you're in my jurisdiction' thing, the cop looks up, they lock eyes, and BAM! their Timers both go crazy. None of this is particularly strange or different until you get to the part where the cop's name is Maggie Sawyer."

"Wait, Detective Sawyer?" Lena deadpanned, "The officer who arrested me?"

"Oh, right." Kara winced slightly, "Well, for the sake of this story, let's just gloss over that for the moment."

Lena raised a skeptical eyebrow, but she was smirking, so Kara continued.

"So Alex does some serious soul searching, connects a few scattered dots, and comes out to us, having realized the reason all of those relationships in the past felt wrong was because they were with men."

"Or because they weren't with Maggie." Lena contributed thoughtfully.

"Maybe." Kara replied, her eyebrows falling into a loose knit. "For Alex, it all just fell into place the second her Timer went off. Or rather, the Timer provided the missing piece of a puzzle that never seemed to make sense to her before."

"Do you think she would have gotten there on her own?"

"I'd like to think so." Kara answered truthfully. In her mind, she liked to imagine that, devoid of Timers, she and Maggie would have found each other anyhow, would have developed a friendship that would ultimately grow into the relationship they had now. "All I know for sure is they were made for one another. They're both so strong, and they can lean on each other when they're not so strong. I've never seen Alex so happy or so honest about her feelings. Maggie supports her – ride or die – and that's exactly what she needs." Kara fell silent for a brief moment, only looking up when she felt a light touch on her shoulder.

"You okay?" Lena's ice green eyes were wide with concern.

"Yeah." Kara straightened up a bit, "I just miss her sometimes."

"Who, Alex?"

"Yeah. I mean, she hasn't gone anywhere, but she's my sister." Kara's voice was stern and decisive, in attempts to burry the underlying pain, "She was my One before all these stupid boys – and girls – started showing up, and sometimes I feel like I'm losing her. I know things change and this is supposed to happen, but it still feels strange," Kara picked at a piece of fuzz, pilling along the seam of her sleeve, "and lonely."

"I felt that way about Lex," Lena trained her eyes on the workings of Kara's fingers, "Not that I'm implying the situations are in any way the same. Your sister found love and Lex found..." she trailed off, "He found something else. But, still, I wasn't prepared to feel so suddenly alone."

Kara stopped her fretting and slid a hand over to Lena's, delicately lacing their fingers together. Her touch was electric and the CEO strained to school her features, attempting to keep them calm and contented, rather than ecstatic and pleased-beyond-all-reason.

"Not alone anymore." Lena murmured to herself, barely above a whisper.

* * *

The door to her apartment swung in with a dull whine. Kara tossed her keys into a small porcelain bowl and unceremoniously dropped her bag.

"Oh good! You're home!" an overly cheery voice piped up from across the apartment and Kara was suddenly pulled into a kiss. "I can't wait to show you!" Mon-El pulled back, keeping Kara in the circle of his arms.

"I was only gone for a few hours, how much trouble could you have possibly gotten into in a few hours?" Kara asked, laughing at his enthusiasm.

"Well, Winn and I –"

"Ah," she interrupted him, "so the answer is 'a lot of trouble.'"

He released her and Kara crossed to sit at the kitchen table, catching Mon-El's hand and pulling him behind her; he perched on the stool opposite her.

"Winn was telling me about pair-bonding rituals on this planet. It seems that most people put their faith in this concept of having a One. One person for every person. Now, I've never believed in limiting myself in life or in love." Kara's eyes narrowed and her lips tightened, she could feel the reprimand rise in her throat, "But since I met you, Kara, I'm starting to think that maybe there is one person for every person. And that maybe you're mine, my One."

Kara let the chastisement die on her lips, mildly taken aback by the sweetness and sentiment of Mon-El's realization. She pushed up and leaned across the table to kiss him, but was stopped before making contact by his arm as he thrust it toward her, excitedly.

"So I got this!"

There on his arm, just above his wrist – blinking slow and steady – was a Timer with a dashed display.


	3. Chapter 3: Processing

A/N: Sorry this has taken so long, I've gotten completely wrapped up in my other chapter fic and a new two-shot I just posted. Thanks for your patience and all of your amazing feedback!

Chapter 3  
Processing

Kara unclenched her jaw, rubbing it gingerly, before winding up a fist and letting it sail toward the block of concrete in front of her. The impact of indestructible knuckles against the hardened slab caused it to fracture, and the blonde blew out a frustrated breath before pounding on it with four punches in quick succession, left, right, left, right. It fell away in traumatized sections, reduced quickly to rubble and flying dust, and Kara moved to the next block, identical to the last – the sixth in line for quick demolition.

"At the rate you're going, we're going to run out of those within the hour." A voice floated down to her, and Kara pushed the loose blonde hair out of her face to peer up. J'onn lingered at the top of the stairwell, peering over the railing at the devastated debris littering the training room floor below.

"Sorry, I'm just," she dusted off her hands and brushed some of the rubble aside with her shoe, clearing a path, "trying to work something out, I guess." She left the broken slabs scattered at her feet and climbed the stairs, meeting J'onn on the top landing. He wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder and jostled her in that familial way fathers had with their daughters.

"Why don't you give those fists a rest and we'll see if we can't sort it out together?" Kara nodded and they left the training room, passing Agent Vasquez on their way out, picking up their pace when they heard a startled, _What happened in here?_ come from over their shoulders.

They wound their way through the halls of the DEO and ended up in their favorite spot: the balcony overlooking National City. Twilight was fading, the brilliant red sky surrendering to the deep purple of oncoming night, and the city lights were just starting to flicker on. For a moment, they stood in silence, shoulder to shoulder, gazing out over their city. It was J'onn who broke the silence.

"I always forget how much I love this city until I look out over it from up here. We work so hard to protect it. It's so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day minutiae, keeping it safe, making it run, that sometimes we forget the reason we work so hard: love."

"Who told you?" Kara stared out over the city, her tone flat.

"No one had to tell me." The blonde raised a skeptical eyebrow, "I _am_ psychic," he countered. "And I know you, Kara. I know when something's bothering you."

Kara shifted and turned to lean her back against the railing, pausing to collect her thoughts into some sort of organized jumble.

"How did you know your wife was your One?" Kara rocked back on her heels, pressing against the balcony railing.

"My'ria'h was always meant to be mine, as I was meant to be hers. It's not something I necessarily know how to put into words. The way I felt, the way I _feel_ about her, it's something that I just _understand_ how to do. It's like breathing."

"You knew right away?" Kara's face was a mess of empathy and contemplation.

"Of course not!" J'onn laughed and Kara cracked a smile along with him, "I thought I was far too important to be tied down when we first met, and she, she was much to smart for me. But, somehow, we became friends." J'onn's face took on a wistful, far-off look, lost to memory and nostalgia, "And then one day, I saw her. I mean, for the first time, I really _saw_ her. She already knew my soul, by then though; she knew I belonged to her long before I did. Like I said, too smart for me. We took the bond that day, and shortly after that, we were married, or the Martian equivalent of what you would consider marriage."

Kara stayed silent for a moment, lost in her own thoughts "Is it wrong to want a guarantee? I want all of that, but I also don't want to make the mistake of putting my love in the wrong place."

"Ah, we're talking about Timers, yes?"

"I've spent my life on earth convincing myself I don't need a Timer to tell me who to love, and I _don't_ , but," She sighed, "I can't help but wonder if I'm on the right path. And if something could _tell me_ the answer, shouldn't it be okay that I want to know for sure?" Her eyebrows fell and her forehead crinkled in that telltale way. "But _you_ never had a Timer to tell you to love your wife, and shouldn't I trust my heart?"

"I did have a Timer for a while, actually."

" _What_?" Kara abruptly detoured from her spiraling train of thought, "I never knew that."

"Hank Henshaw had a Timer, so when I assumed his identity, I had one installed." At this J'onn presented the underside of his wrist to Kara and she observed two barely visible circular scars where a Timer would be had he still had one.

"You had it removed?" She placed a gentle hand over his wrist, almost as if she were healing him of any lingering pain, physical or emotional.

"I did. When they installed it, it showed a series of "X"s then the display went blank meaning–"

"Meaning your One had died." She finished his thought, "Oh, J'onn, I'm sorry." She crushed him, perhaps a bit too hard, into a side hug.

"Listen Kara, I don't know if we only get one great love in this life, but I do know that if we do, I've had mine, and for that I will always be grateful." He placed a hand on her shoulder, "One thing I _can_ tell you for sure, though: I still have _so much_ love in my life, and I've never needed technology to tell me who my _family_ is. You'll know Kara." He squeezed her shoulder genially, "And if you do opt for a guarantee, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But I have a feeling if you have to ask the question, then you already know the answer."

* * *

She honestly didn't know how she ended up there. Kara knew she had been flying, surveying the city and keeping an ear out for trouble, as she did every night, but something J'onn had said to her started turning, over and over in her mind and somehow, without meaning to, she had ended up on Lena Luthor's balcony. Maybe, she thought, one good turn deserved another; if nothing else, Lena may provide her with some insight into her current predicament.

After making a brief survey of the office, she pushed open the door, always unlocked for her.

"Supergirl!" Lena rose to greet her, smiling broadly, and Kara immediately realized why she had come: she needed this; this woman who supported her unconditionally, who made her feel light, even under the heaviest weight. She needed to walk through the door and be greeted by that smile – and it was there for her, every time, without fail.

"Ms. Luthor." Kara gave a curt nod, reigning in her reactions. She wanted to rush Lena, to wrap her up in the tight hug she knew they both needed.

"To what do I owe this unexpected visit," Lena rose and crossed around her desk, "is there trouble afoot?"

Kara laughed and crossed into the room, hands on hips, "No, no trouble. I actually..." Kara paused, unsure of just how honest she should be. They were friends, to be sure, but Lena didn't share the same unabashed warmth she had with Kara with Supergirl. She decided to bite the bullet, "I actually don't know why I'm here."

Lena's eyebrow quirked up and the corner of her mouth followed suit, pulling a smirk across her lips.

"It sounds," Lena settled back against her desk, leaning casually, "Like you've got something on your mind." Kara's eyebrows gathered and her forehead creased, Lena's eyes flashed in momentary recognition of that familiar crinkle, but she had long ago learned to control her reactions when Kara Danvers broke through Supergirl's practiced guise. "Perhaps I can be of some help?"

"You already have been." Kara's shoulders slackened and she crossed to the desk, fiddling with some papers just next to the dark haired woman.

"Oh?"

The blonde hummed in ascent, but found herself unable to elaborate.

She wanted to say, _I felt better as soon as I saw your face_ , but she instead settled into silence.

Something had drawn her to this office, something in her head or her heart knew she needed to be here now. It wasn't as if she had come for relief; her relationship with Lena, especially as Supergirl, had never been exactly easy. It wasn't the ease she sought; it was the support, the understanding. Lena listened to her, and when they came to an impasse, they always managed to find a compromise. Even when she and the Luthor heiress had butted heads – after Lena's mother was unmasked as the head of Cadmus, even after the whole city assumed Lena conspired with the hateful woman to escape prison – they had managed to work through any issues with grace. So, why was Kara, now, stricken with silence?

"Well, if you're not ready to talk just yet, then maybe you can help _me_ with something." Lena watched as the Super lined up a few knick-knacks on the edge of her desk.

"Anything," the blonde answered, perhaps a bit too hastily.

"Have you spoken to Kara recently?"

Supergirl adopted what some might consider a detached air, though Lena knew better. The Luthor derived a sort of bemused enjoyment from watching Kara fret, attempting to skirt the truth of her identity while openly talking about herself. Lena's favorite instance of this, by far, was when the Kryptonian had crashed through the ceiling of her brother's warehouse and told her, "Kara Danvers believes in you." She wished she could play it on a loop – both the message and the messenger inspired her to be kinder to herself. So, though she knew it might be a bit cruel, Lena loved bringing up Kara anytime Supergirl paid her a visit. In this case, however, she had a more pointed purpose to her inquiry.

"K-Kara Danvers?"

"Yes, she came to see me earlier and I think I might have said something wrong," Lena wrung her hands in feigned distress, "she hasn't returned any of my calls or texts since she left this morning and I'm starting to worry."

"You know?" Kara stammered, groping for words, "I did talk to her earlier and she's, um, you know? She's really busy."

"Busy? I hope everything's alright."

"Everything is fine, she's just," Kara frowned, she had never been much good at lying, "She's trying to deal with a – well – a thing that came up. It's a bit more challenging than she anticipated, is all." The blonde was fidgeting in earnest, grateful when Lena took her hands, effectively stilling them for a moment.

"I'm sure she'll figure it out. She's smart." Lena couldn't help adding, "and she has you."

"I'm afraid I'm not much help in this arena." The blonde crossed over to Lena's white couch and slumped down. She had spent so much time there, as Kara Danvers, trading confidences with Lena, but she had never once shared the couch with the CEO as Supergirl. This didn't even cross her mind as she sat, head propped in her hands, elbows resting on her knees, cape wrapped around her shoulders like a crimson security blanket.

Lena, for her part, had to stifle a laugh and school her features, the decidedly Danvers-esque posturing thoroughly shattering the Super illusion. She, however, managed to keep a straight face and lowered herself to sit next to the girl of steel.

"I find it hard to believe there's any problem Supergirl can't solve."

"It's not a problem, so much as a _situation_. And one for which I have no frame of reference." Kara grumbled in frustration.

"I'd be happy to offer counsel, to help in any way I can." Lena placed a gentle hand on the other woman's shoulder, "Kara and I were talking about Timers earlier and it seems she left a bit conflicted."

"That's putting it mildly," the heroine huffed.

"Oh," Lena drew back, defensively, "I hadn't realized the conversation had been so upsetting."

"No, no," Kara reached over and clasped Lena's hands in hers. " _You_ didn't upset her. The conversation was lovely," the blonde faltered slightly, "Sh – she told me. She said she really enjoyed talking with you. She always does."

"Thank goodness, I hate to think that I'd somehow upset her, and even if I had I hope she knows she can come to me."

"Kara knows. She trusts you," the blonde sighed. "Things just got a lot more complicated after she left you. It seems the boy – er, man. Guy? She's been seeing just had a Timer installed on a whim and it's dashed."

"Ah, that would complicate things wouldn't it?" Lena nodded, attempting to convey understanding and empathy in a wordless gesture. She was fully aware that Kara was still holding tightly to her hands, trapping them in a loose tangle as she spoke. She wondered if the blonde even consciously registered the way she was twining their fingers together and thought better than to mention it, should the sudden realization make the contact then cease. "And what are _your_ feelings on the subject? I assume Kryptonians aren't generally prone to our traditions."

"No, we can be, if we want." Kara started tracing absentminded patterns over Lena's wrist, just as she had done earlier that morning; she did it without thinking – like breathing – it just happened. "My cousin had his Timer installed when he was sixteen, just like everyone else. It took some doing, figuring out how to make him vulnerable for installation. He got one and zeroed out, just like everyone else. But Kal-El was raised here, it made sense that he would follow the customs."

"What about you?" Lena asked, though she already knew the answer, keeping up the subterfuge for Kara's sake.

"I guess I haven't gotten around to it. I didn't used to think it was that important, but now, I don't know." The Kryptonian allowed her fingers to wander up Lena's wrist to that pervasive strip of circuitry resting against the woman's skin. She traced its edges, silent for a moment, before saying, "Lately it seems like I've been missing something that everyone else seems to know, seems to have. I used to think I was the exception, that I didn't need a Timer to tell me who to love, but lately, I've had so many questions, so many doubts. Maybe it would be nice to know for sure. I just wish it didn't feel so much like a surrender."

Lena couldn't help the way her heart ached at the thought of Kara getting a Timer, or better yet, simply choosing her. She knew there was virtually no chance of them zeroing out together – Kara had never shown any particular interest in her beyond fiercely loyal friendship and the occasional lingering gaze – but for some reason, she couldn't stop herself from dreaming about it. She would never tell the woman to get one, outright, though. Never would she consider putting pressure on the blonde to compromise her beliefs.

"I would never presume to tell either you or Kara what to do, but I do know that it doesn't have to be a surrender. It's natural to want love, and while being led by something rooted in technology and science can make finding it seem like an inorganic process, it doesn't have to be."

Lena paused a moment, searching for clouds in the blue skies of Kara's eyes.

"Kara, when she was here this morning, told me about the day her sister zeroed out. It was," she paused, mulling over her choice of words, "unexpected. But something inside her knew, even before their Timers went off. A flutter, a shared frequency. Kara has faith that her sister would've found her partner regardless, but now the time they might have spent looking, they get to pass together. Sometimes a Timer can be a victory, but that doesn't mean it's necessary."

"So you believe it's possible?"

"To find love without a Timer? Absolutely." Lena answered without hesitation. She had to stop herself from saying _I have_ , and instead caught Kara's fingers, still dancing along her wrist, gathering them up in her own. "I like to think of the Timer as a confirmation. More than telling you whom to love, it can validate what you already know to be true."

Kara felt a breath pass between them, she was relishing the feel of her hands in Lena's, the rush of comfort she felt simply sitting with her. She lifted her eyes from her hands, dragging them slowly up the outline of the woman beside her until they rested on her face, open and kind.

Lena's smile always managed to split her open in the best possible way, and it hadn't taken long for her to develop an addiction to this feeling and the woman who supplied it, dropping by both as Kara Danvers, ace reporter, and as Supergirl far more than she otherwise would have. Lena was an invaluable part of her support system, a friend – a best friend, actually – but she was more than that too.

There was something about her that Kara had never been able to place. A feeling the woman inspired somewhere deep inside her, it settled and unsettled her all at once. It was pleasant, warm and radiating, though often it left her running far hotter than she had anticipated. She always felt this way whenever she took a moment to consider her friend, unobserved.

From time to time, Lena might be absorbed in work and Kara would find herself tracing the subtle curve of the woman's lips, admiring the arch of her dark brow, following the curve of her neck to the hollow just above her collarbone; she never initially paused to consider the romantic implications of such appraisal. It took her some time to realize her observations went beyond a simple catalog of features, settling somewhere closer to august longing, and the awareness churned up some unknown part of her until a blush rose to full bloom in her cheeks.

Kara had hoped that her relationship with Mon-El would help to settle the tumult she felt rising around her feelings for the Luthor heiress, now having someplace to put her desire, someone to pull her focus, something easy and fun. She knew she _could_ love him, if she let herself. But sitting here, fingers laced in Lena's, her surety waivered. Her fun distraction was becoming a disorienting burden and what was once confusing, was now a refuge – she found constant comfort in Lena's aura, her touch. The woman had somehow become her safe harbor.

She was faltering, awash in conflicting viewpoints, and needed answers. She pressed forward.

"Have you ever been in love, Ms. Luthor?"

"I have." Lena shifted slightly, closer, and felt the subtle heat radiate off the body next to her as she clasped the hero's fingers tightly.

"And did they have a Timer?"

Lena answered carefully, curious as to where this line of questioning might lead. "No."

"And you never asked them to get one?" Kara raised sapphire eyes to meet the icy green of the woman now so close to her. Her cheeks felt strangely hot as if something deep within was rousing.

"I could never do that to her. I wouldn't." Lena drew her hand from the tangle and reached up to push a stray curl back from Kara's face, "My need for having a Timer is mine alone. I would never ask someone to change herself for me, just as I hope she would respect me enough to show me the same courtesy."

Kara was moving before she realized what she was doing and found herself forehead to forehead with the dark haired woman. She had slipped a hand up, fingers threading through the raven's silk hair at the nape of Lena's neck. She could hear the woman's heart racing, keeping a rabbit's pace.

"Supergirl, I," she was obviously startled at the rush and the proximity, "what are you doing?"

"Testing a theory." Kara answered, her voice barely above a whisper, before closing the remaining distance between them, meeting Lena's ruby red lips with her own.


	4. Chapter 4: Gambling

Chapter 4  
Gambling

"Alex!" Kara pushed impatiently past her sister, who was paging the front door, and blew into the apartment like a small hurricane. She let her bag drop on the ground with a harsh thud and huffed out an exasperated breath before straightening her cardigan.

"Who-hoa there, Little Danvers," Maggie was sitting on the couch, curled into a soft grey blanket, book in hand. She was wearing one of Alex's old Midvale High shirts and looked perfectly at home, "where's the fire?"

"It's me. I'm the fire." The blonde pushed glasses up the bridge of her nose and spun to face the detective with an agitated flourish, "I lit it, I stoked it, and now the whole thing is going up in flames!"

"What are you talking about? Kara, what's wrong?" Alex pushed the door closed, letting it click softly behind her, then crossed to her sister and placed a comforting hand on the blonde's amazingly tense shoulder.

While it was true Kara had a flair for the dramatic, from time to time, she wasn't usually quite so agitated. Alex looked from her girlfriend to her sister and back again, giving Maggie a small shrug.

"I kissed her!" Kara rushed the couch and collapsed next to Maggie, effectively unsettling her from her nest of blankets. In her prostrate pose, the blonde more closely resembled a swooning maiden on a fainting couch than an invulnerable alien superhero and Alex couldn't help but crack a smile, in spite of herself.

"You kissed..." the redhead trailed off for a moment, then seemed to snap to attention, "Wait, _her_ who?"

Kara grabbed a pillow and smothered her face, her voice filtering through the muffle of cottony fluff and fabric, "Lena."

One of Maggie's dark eyebrows shot up and a smile crept across her face, "I'm sorry, Kara, but it sounded like you said 'Lena.' That wouldn't happen to be _Lena Luthor_ would it?"

A groan of ascent came from the pillow and a mess of golden curls nodded violently before issuing another muffled wail.

The detective shifted and pushed up from the couch, throwing off the blanket and circling Alex before softly chucking her on the shoulder, "Pay up, Danvers! You owe me twenty bucks _and_ a night at that vegan sushi place _with_ karaoke in Japan Town." Maggie squealed delightedly.

The redhead shifted and rolled her eyes, tutting all the while.

A blonde head popped up, face reddened by the press of the pillow. "I'm sorry, am I _hearing_ this correctly?" Kara's face gathered into a tight scowl, "You placed a _bet_ on whether or not I would kiss Lena? Seriously?"

"Correction," Maggie chirped, a bit too cheerfully, "We didn't bet on _if_ you would kiss her, we bet on _when_. Alex gave you two more weeks, but I knew you'd never last that long."

Kara sat in stunned silence, blinking slowly while her brain attempted to process what she was hearing. Alex meandered back toward her and settled on the couch. She slung an arm over her little sister's shoulder, letting her stew in shock a bit longer.

"You couldn't have waited two weeks? I could've gotten Maggie to take surf lessons, Kara! _Plus_ brunch at Iron Horse."

"Oh! Lena and I went there last week, their Eggs Benedict is – wait." Kara seemed to come back to herself for a moment before stalling out again. She felt Alex brush a hand through her hair and trail down her back, placating her with soft contact. "I didn't even know how I felt, how did you?"

"Sweetie, everyone knew," the redhead spoke softly, continuing to brush through her sister's hair. "You sort of short circuit whenever she's around."

"You should see the way you smile when you take her phone calls." Maggie added, "and, for the record, she does the same whenever you're on the scene; I'd never seen a Luthor smile, but that woman can't seem to _stop_ when you're around. Plus, I thought you were actually going to take me down when I had to arrest her."

"I was ready to, believe me."

"You never stopped believing her when everything, and I mean _everything_ , told us she was guilty of breaking Lillian out of prison." Alex brushed hair back from Kara's face, seemingly frozen in an expression caught somewhere between shock and sadness. "But that's all what _we've_ seen, how _we_ feel. Kara, how do _you_ feel about her?"

Kara took in a slow, steady breath and let it out it in a measured, even exhale. "I don't know. Or – I thought I didn't." She brought her hands up to cover her face in exasperation and felt Alex press a comforting hand to her back. Maggie had, at some point, made her way over to rest on the arm of the couch at her other side and reached out to offer comfort as well. "I think I might want her, want to be with her."

That was a bold-faced lie; she knew. She knew the second her lips touched Lena's that there was no one else she wanted to kiss ever again. She didn't have to question her feelings, didn't have to delve deep to know if she could love someone wholly and completely; she knew. In that one action, the sweet press of lips, the taste of Lena on her tongue, the buzz of adrenaline and the heady, though not unwelcome, sensation of lust that flooded her senses all at once, she found the answer to the questions she'd been asking herself over and over. She knew exactly how she felt about the Luthor heiress. It was all she could do to sit here with her sister, fidgeting, steeped in nervous worry, to not rush back to those waiting lips. But her clarity came with a few caveats and it was the breaking of current ties – the clearing of her way before falling back into the Luthor's arms – which presented the challenge at hand.

Kara's silent stirrings gave Alex pause; she exchanged a weighted look with Maggie, "And what about Lena, do you know how she feels?"

"I think," Kara's tone was halting, but thoughtful, "I think she might want me too. I don't know! I left so fast. I just, I kissed her! But then I panicked and flew straight here."

Maggie stifled a laugh and Alex shot her a glare, softened with a smile. The detective stiffened and placed a hand on Kara's shoulder, "It's like I said, Little Danvers, she lights up as soon as you enter the room. I'd bet my badge she feels the same."

Alex felt her face flush crimson with warmth as she looked up at Maggie, so earnest in her support of Kara. She watched her sister rise from the couch and pace a moment before turning to face Maggie.

"What did it feel like when your Timer went off?" Kara raised her face to draw eyes level with the brunette's own.

"Um," the detective faltered a bit at the abrupt change in subject, "Well, it was less about the Timer and more about seeing Alex, I suppose. I mean, I didn't even hear it for the first few seconds," she tucked a strand of long dark hair behind one ear and her eyes floated down to the other Danvers sister. "My heart dropped into my stomach at the sight of this amazing woman who was, it took me a moment to realize, yelling at me. Then I realized my Timer was going nuts and all I could think was 'thank you.' She was gorgeous, and a badass agent, and if nothing else, the Timer gave us an excuse to talk – to get to know one another."

"It gave me a gentle push toward embracing a part of myself I'd been ignoring, but ultimately it was Maggie who helped me be myself. I mean, I know we would have gotten there eventually – c'mon, how could I resist her?" Alex added with a laugh, catching the detective's hand and pulling her down onto the couch beside her. She laced their fingers together, fixing Maggie with an impossibly luminous gaze, "It just helped us skip ahead a bit, so we could get to the good stuff. It's just a tool, Kara. It doesn't do the work for you – it's not some magic bullet – but it _can_ help if you want it to, just like any tool in the right hands."

"I want to get one."

"Are you sure?" It wasn't a challenge, Alex simply wanted confirmation. It was a big shift in Kara's identity and she wanted to make sure her sister was sure _and_ that she was going forward for the right reasons.

Kara thought of Mon-El with his dashed timer and she shifted uncomfortably, settling into her left hip, then her mind turned and came to rest on Lena. She thought of the way her finger's danced over the Luthor's arm, tracing lazy patterns around the woman's Timer, blinking solemnly, and butterflies rushed to flutter through her stomach, dancing up to settle in the cage of her ribs. She knew how she felt. She knew what would happen. She wanted this.

"I'm sure. Will you help me?"

"Of course." Alex nodded.

* * *

"This is so exciting!" Mon-El was hovering a bit to close and Kara fidgeted uncomfortably in the chair. She tried to keep her head back, staring unblinking, letting her eyes slip in and out of focus. They were in the Med bay at the DEO and the warm glow of red sun lamps drenched the room in an ominous crimson light.

"Now, you're sure you want to do this?" Alex appeared at Kara's side, brandishing a device that looked more like a security tag gun than any sort of high-tech installation equipment.

"She's sure." Mon-el shouted enthusiastically, before Kara had a chance to answer in the affirmative. Alex shot him a withering look. "I mean, she can answer for herself of, course, but you know Kara: she's always ready for anything. Ready for love." He grasped her hand solidly and the Kryptonian flinched imperceptively, "ready for the rest of our lives."

Alex crossed to the overhead lamp and turned a dial on it's side, the red glow spread out from the tempered bulbs and Kara felt suddenly warm and weaker than she had a second prior. She swallowed hard and tried to steel herself against the oncoming pain. She also attempted to steady her resolve, knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that she was making the right decision. Whatever the outcome, she was taking the reigns, owning her choices.

To be fair, choice had little to do with it at this point. Kara had already made the decision that no matter the Timer's outcome, she new her path forward. She knew what she wanted, knew _who_ she wanted. To many, the installation might seem like a pointless gesture, seeing as she was already so resolute, but she was still firm in her resolve. The Timer would either confirm what she already knew in her soul to be true, or she would defy it by following her heart contrary to it's instruction. She would be the lover with just another anecdote to tell friends at a dinner party or the rebel who flew in the face of technology to pursue love, but above all: she would be happy.

"Mon-El, could you give me a second alone with my sister?" Alex set the installation gun down and sidled up to Kara, placing a steady hand on her forearm.

"Sure thing. I'll just be in the hall. Waiting." He waved his wrist, "with my Timer."

The redhead waited until he had exited the room before squeezing Kara's forearm. "You know you don't have to do this."

"I know. I want to," Kara's face was a portrait of stoic resolve, "I'm sure. No matter the outcome, I know my path."

"Then why do this at all?" Alex's voice was steeped in unfiltered pleading, "Why go through with this whole thing if you already know what you want?"

"Because, Alex, I'm curious. And," Kara paused, "I suppose, because I want to share this experience. I think part of me was so against the idea of Timers because I couldn't get one for so long. We didn't know how to create red sun lamps, or harness Kryptonite, or about my solar flares when I was younger, which meant that I had to miss out on yet another right of passage here on Earth. After a while, I was able to convince myself that it didn't matter, that I could simply walk my own path. And that's completely true: I can," Kara's eyes glazed over slightly and her sister's hand slid down to clutch at her fingers, holding them tightly. "I know I'm strong enough to follow my heart, Alex, but even so I still _want_ this.

"I want to do this. I _know_ that I belong with Lena and I want to give her the gift of having her Timer – that she's had for _so_ long – zero out. _With mine_. But I'm not doing this for her. And I'm _not_ doing this for Mon-El. His One is out there, and he'll find her, without me. I hate doing this to him, but it just might be easier this way. For both of us," Kara blew out a pent-up sigh, "But more than anything, Alex, I want to have this experience too. I want to you to be here when I get my Timer, just like I was there when you got yours. I want to have that heart stopping moment you had with Maggie. I just want to be like everyone else. Normal. _I want this_."

Alex pulled her little sister close and kissed her, almost forcefully, on the forehead. "Okay. You're sure."

"I'm sure."

"Then let's do this!"

Alex picked up the installation gun and motioned for Mon-El to come back in. He bounced a bit as he walked around to the far side of the chair and took Kara's hand in his. Kara pushed her sleeve further up, exposing her forearm and gave her sister a slight nod – she was ready. Alex loaded the strip of metal and plastic circuitry into the installation gun and pressed it flush against Kara's skin.

"This is going to hurt." Alex intoned apologetically.

"I'm ready."

Alex squeezed the trigger of the gun and a shrill chime sounded suddenly. Mon-El released Kara's hand and squinted at his wrist as his Timer began to wink and trill, zero-ing out.

"See? I told you!" He crooned, taking Kara's free hand once more and kissing it with fervor.


	5. Chapter 5: Tender

Chapter 5  
Tender

Alex pulled back sharply, the installation gun still in hand, and Kara noticed the Timer still front-loaded in the device. For a moment, she looked, wide-eyed, from her sister to Mon-El, still busy stroking her hand, obviously delighted.

There was no pain, no puncture.

Kara withdrew her free hand from Mon-El's grasp and he sobered immediately.

"You don't look excited. How're you not excited by this?" He intoned, looking from one Danvers sister to the other, expectantly.

Kara wordlessly held up her arm, sleeve pushed up to the elbow, showing him the pale perfection of her unmarred skin, Timerless still.

He cocked his head in confusion, holding her gaze before allowing it to drop back to his own wrist. The Timer had ceased its chiming and was now counting down. Seven months, fourteen days, six hours, twenty-three minutes: the time until he met his soulmate, his _One_. Somewhere in the world, the person he was destined to be with had just had their own Timer installed.

"I don't understand." Mon-El's face fell, his voice suddenly soft and breathy. "I was so sure it was you."

Disappointment crept over him until it seemed to be all consuming. In mere seconds, it sapped him of all life, all energy. Kara watched as his shoulders sagged, his eyes lost their mischievous gleam, and the Daxamite simply wilted before her eyes. She felt a slight tug in her chest and couldn't be sure if it was from empathy or latent guilt. True, she relished the fact that his Timer had, essentially, released her from any unspoken tie to this man, but her heart still went out to him. She could understand his shock and dismay: he had received his answer; it just wasn't the one he had been counting on.

Kara reached out a hand and gently settled it on his arm.

"Hey," she raised her eyes to his, sapphire blue piercing the gunmetal grey, "I'm sorry this isn't turning out the way you expected it to. If it's any consolation, I understand and," she paused as she caught the sheen of saline in his eyes, "it's okay."

"It was supposed to be us. Like Harry Potter and Cho Chang, y'know? Like Hamlet and Ophelia."

"You _really_ need to finish the books you start." Kara almost chuckled.

He kept his eyes downcast and shuffled his feet, "Yeah."

It was true she _did_ harbor deep affection for this man, in spite of his stubborn pride and many missteps. She adored his wry humor and almost child-like wonder, the way he soaked up all Earth had to offer, tripping over idioms and stumbling over pop culture references in his enthusiasm. She almost wished she could love him the way he wanted, that she felt the depth of emotion he seemed to feel for her, but when she plumbed the depths of her heart, she simply couldn't find him there. She did take some small amount of solace, knowing there was someone, looking at their own newly activated Timer, waiting to meet him.

"Think about it this way," Mon-El and Kara both turned to look as Alex's voice cut through the tension between them, "Consider your relationship with Kara, how much you care for her, how _sure_ you were. Now imagine feeling that, but magnified a thousand-fold _and_ imagine your One feeling the same way about you."

"Yeah," Mon-El repeated, "Yeah I guess. Look, I'm sorry to, I just – I need some time to think about this."

Kara winced as his fists contracted; whether in pain or frustration she wasn't sure.

It's possible to love someone, to tend to them as one would a young vine, and for that love to fall short. Without roots – without true understanding, mutual respect, passion – the vine, steeped as it may be in affection, might still wither and die. Kara knew this, but still she felt the deep pang of sorrow at seeing Mon-El wane so pitifully.

"It's okay, take all the time you need," she offered.

He walked toward the door, turning back just before crossing the threshold.

"Kara?" He paused and took a deep breath, "You knew, didn't you?"

"Knew what?"

"That it wasn't me. This," he gestured toward Alex and the equipment, "isn't for _us_. It was never going to be me, was it?"

"I," she hesitated, shifting uncomfortably for a moment before meeting his pained gaze, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah," he said for the final time before pushing out of the med lab and disappearing into the winding hallways of the DEO.

Kara forced a lungful of air from her lips, hissing out a protracted sigh.

She felt _terrible_.

She knew there was no way this afternoon could have ended with everyone coming away happy, but she was not prepared for this particular turn of events. Part of her, a very small part, was grateful things had played out in this fashion: with Mon-El being promised to another before Kara had even managed installation. She had hoped to escape this awkward situation relatively unscathed, but even with the advent of this new development, she had still managed to hurt him.

She had kissed Lena, after all. While she was still with Mon-El – Mon-El who loved her, in that all consuming, moony, puppy love way – she kissed Lena and had the audacity to hope that she and the Daxamite could part cordially and remain friends. Instead, he was crushed. She had crushed him. And while Kara harbored no small amount of guilt over the way things played out, she still couldn't help the warm glow starting to spread throughout her body; the anticipation spiraling out to her fingertips and toes, the subtle joy over pursuing her heart's desire: Lena Luthor.

"So," Alex interrupted her momentary disconnect, "that was incredibly awkward. Unexpected. Terrible timing all-around, really." She paused for dramatic effect, " _So_ awkward."

Kara settled back into the chair and pressed her lips into a tight line, "You're not wrong."

The redhead gingerly picked up the installation device, inspecting the Timer cartridge to see if it was still viable. "We're good to go here, everything is still sterile." She held the gun aloft, and rested it back against her shoulder, like some sort of action hero surveying the battlefield. "You still want to do this?"

"More than ever."

"Okay," Alex checked the red sun lamps before drawing up next to her sister, she pressed the device to Kara's forearm, "here goes everything," and squeezed the trigger.

The last twenty-four hours had been unlike any other Lena had ever experienced, and she had experienced her share of harrowing days. She wasn't quite sure if what had passed could, in fact, be classified as harrowing, however. Confusing? Perhaps. Promising? Definitely.

It had been hours since her visits with Kara and Supergirl – though they were one in the same, Lena always attempted to make a distinction between the two, if only to perpetuate the ruse for Kara's sake – and the Luthor heiress could still feel the faint hum of a kiss against her lips. The remainder of the previous evening, a night of terrible sleep, and half of her morning had already been sacrificed to pleasurable fantasy as she found herself to be infuriatingly dreamy, mooning over the blonde like some lovesick school girl – and she was: lovesick.

She ran a perfectly manicured finger along the curve of her lower lip and slipped into delicious reminiscence, again recalling the events of the previous evening.

She had flushed with heat at Kara's sudden proximity, her pulse quickening as the blonde leaned into her, forehead to forehead. There was an exchange of words and then, just as suddenly, there were no words at all. Just the sweet press of lips against hers, the thread of lithe fingers through her hair as her own combed through golden curls before settling at the nape of Kara's neck, pulling her closer.

Lena's memory lingered over the way Kara seemed to draw the very breath from her lungs, each kiss leaving the Luthor feeling lightheaded and lecherous. She invited more with the crush of her body, the tentative play of her tongue along the other woman's mouth before she nipped lightly at Kara's lower lip, pulling, slow and seductive, then consuming her completely.

She had felt, more than heard, a distinct moan rumble somewhere at the back of Kara's throat before the blonde pulled back, suddenly shock straight, seemingly astonished at her own desires.

"I," the Super stumbled over her words, obviously flustered, "I have to go."

And without another word, Lena had watched the woman launch from her balcony.

The Luthor heiress had spent the remainder of he evening in a state of shock, followed by a sleepless night punctuated by dreams both salacious and terrifying. Lena couldn't shake the need to call Kara, to hear her voice, to confess her feelings – anything to relieve this tension wrapped, like barbed wire, around her heart. But she resisted, she waited for Kara to come to her. She wasn't sure what their next meeting might hold, but she couldn't help the yearning roiling within her and it seemed to drown any and all apprehension the Luthor was harboring.

She half wondered if Kara might feign obliviousness – to present herself as the mild mannered reporter, rather than the more forward Super – and attempt to behave as if they hadn't been making out like teenagers mere hours before. She almost hoped so.

Lena continued to slip in and out of daydreams, her thoughts turning over and over. She imagined pulling Kara – sweet, fiercely loyal Kara Danvers, who would no doubt be in some soft sweater or adorably twee dress – into her lap and kissing her until they both saw stars. Or perhaps Kara would fly into the office as the hero of National City and attempt to explain herself, bearing her courage like a battle standard. Lena imagined stopping her mouth with a fierce kiss before pinning the Kryptonian against her desk and –

Her reverie was cut short by an insistent chime that Lena was, momentarily, unable to place. She glanced around the room in confusion, the ringing growing louder as she took in the apparent stillness of the otherwise empty office. The sound, she realized, was coming from her wrist. Her Timer, useless and stoic all these years, was suddenly full of life, chirping like an overexcited canary, happy and insistent. She blinked slowly, her brain stitching her thoughts into a patchwork of recognition that, finally, after years of waiting, her One had a Timer installed.

She turned her wrist and took in the blinking face of the device nestled against her skin: the readout showed a host of zeros, and her heart leapt into her throat. She was already zeroing out, meaning whomever she was destined to be with had already come into her life _and_ she would see them within the next 24 hours.

Today was the day. The next time she heard the Timer chime, she would be face to face with her One.

For a brief moment, she panicked, she thought of reaching for the phone, having Hector cancel her meetings for the day, but realized that would be silly. She'd meet them either way, meetings or no, and there was no end of work to be done; she refused to lose her head.

And despite the seemingly endless possibilities, the stir of excitement, Lena knew whose face would trigger the chime a second time. Of course she knew. Who else could it be? There was one person in all of National City – two if the Luthor pretended to be taken in by glasses and an intricate updo – who knew her better than anyone. One person she trusted implicitly. One person who held her heart and, without even knowing, kept it safe and well-tended.

She needed to see Kara.

Lena paused for a moment and considered the significance of the ringing in her ears. The Timer had ceased its calling, but the sound echoed, dying in the canyon of her mind. If what she hoped for was true, Kara had just had a Timer installed. Kara, whose unbridled faith and optimism flew in the face of convention, had chosen this. It was no small concession, and while Lena hoped the blonde didn't see it as a concession at all, she wondered over the woman's motives for a moment before shaking off her doubt and picking up the phone.

Her heart quickened, skipping a beat at the sound of each ring, and almost stopping at the sudden sound of the voice on the other line.

"Lena, hi!"

"Kara," the Luthor sighed happily, in spite of herself, "I need to see you. Can you meet me at my office?"

"Absolutely, is everything alright?" Lena's lips pulled into a stupid grin she couldn't seem to help at the sound of Kara's voice.

"Yes, of course, I just," she paused, trying to calm her bowstring taut nerves, "I just wanted to talk to you. About... something." Smooth.

"Something, huh?" Kara teased over the line, "sounds serious."

"So serious." Lena played along, almost convinced Kara could hear the rattle of her heart over the phone.

"I'll be right over! See you soon."

"Thank you, Kara," Lena pressed her cheek to the phone like a teenager lost in the thrall of a crush.

"What are friends for?" the blonde replied, and the Luthor heiress could actually hear the smile in her voice.

"You're my favorite."

The call disconnected and the Luthor collapsed into her chair, a messy pile of nerves and overwhelming affection for the woman she'd be seeing in a few short minutes.


	6. Chapter 6: At Last

Chapter 6  
At Last

"She's expecting you."

The words echoed in Kara's ears as she lingered, leaning against the solid oak of Lena's office doors. Despite the power she possessed, the muscles and brash courage, she couldn't quite seem to find the strength to push into the room, to embrace her fate. She wanted this, that wasn't the issue. She wasn't nervous about her affections for Lena, wasn't questioning her feelings – she'd never felt so sure of anything in her entire life – rather, she felt like she was toeing the ledge of a building, ready to jump, to fly into this new chapter of her life.

It made her think of that day with Winn when she had made the decision to reveal herself to him, she had firmly planted her feet at the building's edge and with an abrupt about face, fell into the abyss as he called after her. She remembered the way the air, warm and rushing, pulled at her, the leap of her heart into her throat before she caught herself and rocketed back up into the blue, a streak of soft pastel and sensible shoes. She was about to fall again, to change her life irrevocably, and while she was just as excited as she had been when she took up her mantle as Supergirl, there was also a healthy level of apprehension tingeing her enthusiasm.

When it came to loving Lena Luthor, which she did – always had, in fact. Now that she was self-aware enough to realize the depth of her affections for the woman, how could there be any doubt? – one truth revealed deserved another. She could not profess to love a woman who believed her to be someone she wasn't. Or rather, someone she _was_ : two someones in point of fact. It was here Kara's heart snagged a bit; what if her confession, not of love but of otherworldly origin, her heroic responsibilities – her night work – soured Lena's affection for her? She knew the woman well enough to know that her mother's xenophobic leanings hadn't managed to taint Lena's own willingness to accept others, so that wasn't what caused her to hold and wring her fingers. Rather, it was the lying that made her apprehensive. How would Lena react, knowing Kara had been withholding such an integral truth? She wished she knew.

But she was never going to find out, never leap from the ledge into the open sky by sagging against the solid office doors, so, tentatively, Kara cracked one open, peering into the clean white room.

A cursory glance told her Lena wasn't in the office, rather, the Luthor heiress was waiting out on the balcony, her back to Kara.

The blonde stepped inside, the weight of assumed destiny heavy on her shoulders. This was the moment. She could see it all playing out before her: their eyes would meet, as they had a hundred times before. But this time, upon sharing one another's gaze, the shrill cry of their Timers would pierce the air and they would zero out together, the ringing of bells signaling the start of their new life together, a new context for their friendship, their relationship.

But she had to do this the right way. Kara refused to step into their shared future before coming clean. A relationship couldn't thrive, couldn't grow into something long lasting and solid without a healthy foundation of trust and she refused to jeopardize their future happiness with present subterfuge.

She moved into the room and let her bag drop, heavy, on the ground. The sound echoed slightly in the emptiness of the office and from the balcony Lena gave a start, began to turn her head toward the sound.

"Wait, Lena. Stop." Kara called, her voice firmer, perhaps, than she intended. "I mean, please, don't move. Just stay where you are."

The blonde moved through the room, and stepped out on to the terrace to stand just behind the raven-haired woman. The balcony was shallow and it left a mere arms length between them. If Kara had wanted to – and oh, how she wanted to – she could have reached out to brush the freckles lightly dusting the Luthor's exposed shoulders.

A slight breeze kicked up and caught the loose, limp bow hanging at the collar of Lena's deep green, crepe blouse and tangled lightly through her hair, pulled back in a tight ponytail. A jet-black pencil skirt hugged at her thighs and Lena heard an audible gulp at her back as Kara allowed her gaze to drag up the Luthor's statuesque form from heels to hips to head.

Lena shivered slightly, feeling the weight of Kara's gaze upon her, but she obediently stalled her gaze, keeping her eyes downcast, her back turned. If she concentrated, she could almost feel the heat radiating from the other woman; Kara always did run a bit hot, a trait Lena savored on the colder nights they had spent pressed close on the couch watching some movie or another while Kara ate her weight in Chinese food. She heard the blonde clear her throat, could almost make out the scuff of her shoes as she shifted, could imagine Kara touching the rim of her glasses, as she always did when she was nervous.

"I – I have to tell you something," she started.

"So do I, Kara, I –"

"Please," the blonde allowed herself the comfort of contact, placing a hand on Lena's shoulder and the dark-haired woman instinctively rested her own hand over Kara's. Empowered by the gesture, the Kryptonian pushed forward, "I know you're the one who called, and I was happy to come, but I need to get this out and then you can decide where to go from here, tell me whatever it is you want to and I'll listen. I just need you to know this first; I need to be honest with you."

"Alright," the Luthor paused, nodding almost imperceptibly.

"I should have told you this before, forever ago, really," Kara pulled her free hand nervously through her hair while her other received a reassuring squeeze from Lena. She wished she could look the Luthor in the eyes when she told her, but she refused to zero out with this weighing on her conscious, "I need you to know that it was never about trust – I trust you with my life, Lena, so please don't ever doubt that – keeping this from you, it was the only way I could think to keep you safe. There are people, your mother being one of them, who might have hurt you to get to me, to expose me. But I would fight them _all_ just for the chance to be honest with you now. I promised that I would protect you, and I will, always."

"I know."

"Good." Kara sighed and stepped closer to Lena, mere inches from her now, so that Lena could feel the faint tickle of breath against her neck.

"No, I mean I _know_." Lena clarified. "I know what you're trying to tell me, I know you're her – Supergirl – I've known since out first interview, before that even, and I don't care. I mean, of course I _care_ , but it doesn't change how I feel about you." The CEO felt the sting of saline prick her eyes and wished she could turn and face the woman of steel, the woman who filled so much space in her heart that it ached from fullness. Instead, she felt a strong arm slip around her waist, felt the crush of a body, somehow both hard and soft, against her own. Felt the whisper of lips a hair's breadth below her ear.

"I can't say I'm surprised, you are a genius, after all. But I am curious, how _do_ you feel? About me, I mean. About Supergirl too, I guess. About the both of us," Kara's voice was a low rasp and she tried to come off as confident, or something closer to sultry than sullen, but she couldn't help the self-conscious twinge in the back of her mind.

She had spent countless hours with Lena, building a solid relationship with her as Kara Danvers. She had relished the fact that in spite of their differences, Lena seemed genuinely taken with her. It wasn't the brash heroine, but rather the mild, unfailingly earnest reporter who had captured the CEO's attentions. But Lena had known the whole time; known that that she lived a double life, full of incredible abilities and feats of heroism. What if she was wrong, what if Kara Danvers wasn't enough and Lena had only settled for her because she came with the cape? She pulled Lena a bit closer, suddenly strangely possessive, eliminating all space between them, and settling her chin in the cradle of the Luthor's shoulder.

"How do I feel about you? I – you," The Luthor groped for words, struggling to keep conscious, let alone focused, as she became increasingly aware of every part point of contact between her and the woman pressed against her back.

Even flush with the heady fog of proximity, Lena could still sense Kara's hesitation, her subtle shift in tone. She knew this woman better than she knew herself. She understood what it was to feel less-than in comparison to another person, even if the person you were up against was merely another version of yourself. She could sense the self-conscious hesitation in the other woman and refused to let Kara feel anything but completely and utterly loved.

"You're my hero, Kara. Not Supergirl, _you._ you're my best friend and my favorite person. Supergirl protects me, consoles me, but you? You nourish my soul. You're a light in the dark: you're the sun. You _see_ me – no one has ever bothered to try before, but you do. You've experienced so much sadness, so much loss and yet you still love so fiercely. Is it so strange that I might hope, might dare, to keep some of that love for myself?"

Lena pulled at the arm around her waist, taking the other woman's hand in hers and laying a kiss in the well of Kara's palm before lacing their fingers in a light thatch. Somehow, through her stumblings, she managed to find the exact words Kara needed to hear

"You have it." Kara answered, her voice a lullaby, steeped in immeasurable affection for this singular woman.

She pressed a kiss at the nape of Lena's neck and moved around to face her. Settling in front of the dark-haired woman, she couldn't help a laugh from bubbling up as she took in Lena's face: pulled tight, her long-lashed eyes crinkled with effort to stay shut.

"You have my love, Lena. I should have told you that a long time ago, or rather, I should have figured it out a long time ago! I'm sorry things got so muddled. I made some mistakes, followed the wrong path, and I have so much to say, so much time to make up for. But it's _always_ been you. You, Lena Luthor, have _all_ of my love. Please," Kara rested light fingers against the dark-haired woman's temple, "please, open your eyes."

"I can't." Lena sighed out her resistance and tears gathered like dew, collecting on her long dark lashes.

"You know it's me." Kara let her fingers float down to trace Lena's perfect jawline, "And even if it's not, if you open your eyes and nothing happens – if our Timers don't zero out, if the heavens don't open, if cartoon birds don't show up and sing show tunes – know this: I choose you. Of all the people on Earth, in this and every universe, I want you, Lena Luthor. I was meant for you, I know that. And, I mean, I know we don't _really_ belong to anyone but ourselves. We're strong, independent women who don't need another person to make us whole and all of that," Kara was babbling and the Luthor heiress couldn't help but laugh, her nose crinkling delicately as her lips pulled into a brilliantly white, begrudging smile, "But if I belong to anyone, it's you."

"And I belong to you, Kara Danvers." Lena was crying in earnest now, tears squeezing from her eyes, still tightly closed.

Kara slipped her hand around to cradle the back of Lena's neck and drew close so they were forehead-to-forehead, nose-to-nose. She waited there a moment, allowing the electricity between them to crackle and pop as it hung in the air. She was asking a silent question, and hoping for an answer.

It came a moment later, in the form of a slight shift, the press of lips against hers as Lena pushed forward and closed the distance between them. It was just has sweet as she remembered, the brush of lips, the sweet pull of breath drawn as they crashed together, gently, again and again, each kiss becoming more desperate than the last. Somewhere, in the midst of all this longing and sweet sensation, Kara managed to draw back, to stop for the briefest of moments as Lena did the same. They found each other's eyes, deep sapphire and icy emerald holding for one languorous moment of silence.

Then, the melodic chime of two Timers singing in synchronicity floated up to their ears and they smiled, before melting into one another once more.


	7. Chapter 7: Epilogue

Chapter 7  
Epilogue

Something, somewhere was beeping – Kara could hear it, even through the fog of the _very_ good dream she was trying to enjoy. She made a few desperate swipes, attempting to hold onto the fantasy as it faded into the reality of her still-dark bedroom. She finally gave up and sighed loudly, smothering her face with the pillow.

"Kill it." she mumbled shifting slightly as the shrill chime persisted, "Kill it with fire."

She heard a soft giggle over her shoulder, the arm around her torso tightening as a warm body snuggled closer, pressing flush against her back.

"What are you laughing at?" Kara's voice was still thick with sleep as she turned to face the woman whose smiling eyes and beautiful body had just faded from her sleep-addled imaginings.

"You."

Lena greeted her with a soft kiss, eager hands threading through Kara's hair. That's one thing she had learned quickly about the Luthor heiress: Lena loved her hair. She couldn't help but run her fingers through Kara's golden locks, brushing through curls, raking nails across her scalp, pushing stray strands from the blonde's face; she couldn't seem to get enough and Kara was truly grateful. "You're so cute when you wake up all frustrated and murdery."

"But, why is there beeping?" Kara pouted and Lena kissed her again, unable to resist the delicious downturn of Kara's lips.

"It's your Timer." She laughed, took Kara's arm and, raising it, tapped twice against the strip of plastic circuitry, effectively silencing it. "Happy anniversary, love."

Kara smiled broadly and curled into Lena's side, throwing a leg over the woman's hip and drawing a long, slow kiss from her lips. She could feel the pleasant vibration as Lena hummed happily against her mouth, and couldn't resist running an exploratory tongue along the woman's full bottom lip. This elicited a throaty laugh and hands grasping to pull her closer.

Forever closer.

Kara couldn't believe an entire year had gone by since their Timers had zeroed out; it felt like nothing had changed while, at the same time, everything had.

She was still a reporter at Catco, still did hero work with her sister at the DEO, but at the end of each night, instead of flying to her old, empty apartment, she flew here: to the apartment she shared with Lena. The walls where crammed with art they both loved, the furniture a hodge-podge of mid century modern and overstuffed twill that somehow managed to work in their penthouse – Kara still couldn't believe she lived in an honest-to-goodness _penthouse_. When she initially moved in, Lena made it clear that Kara would never need to sacrifice any part of herself to share a life with her, and the Luthor heiress more than made good on her promise. Kara had never felt so happy, so loved, so unconditionally supported in all her life.

And it was easy.

She often thought about the conversation she had shared with J'onn the day she'd made a mess of the training room: loving Lena was easy, like breathing. It came naturally, as he said it would.

It's not as if they didn't have their share of problems, of course. National City's heroine was in love with one of the most targeted women in the tri-county area. There never seemed to be a shortage of aliens attempting to ravage L Corp's high-rise, terrorist groups rappelling down from the roof to storm her office, not to mention those rare visits from Lena's mother, which were _never_ a welcome surprise. But they faced these threats together, each understanding their role.

It was definitely rocky at the outset, though, as both women were relentlessly stubborn, hell-bent on being the very embodiment of bravery and justice. As soon as they realized their refusal to yield could actually serve to endanger one another, however, they relinquished their positions, instead working together and playing to their strengths to keep each other safe. After a year, they were a well-oiled machine.

More jarring than the alien attacks and other worries that came with loving a Luthor, however, was the sudden, unexpected fame.

Kara had experienced her share of publicity, both good and bad, as the Girl of Steel, but whenever the press got too intense, she has always been able to find refuge in the mundane, day-to-day life at Catco as "just Kara." The week she and Lena zeroed out, that refuge was blown wide open, as both gossip magazines and even the more reputable news outlets picked up on Lena Luthor spending all of her free time with an unknown blonde. To be fair, they _already_ spent most of their time together, but all at once the boundaries of physical contact had been breached and the press had taken note. Suddenly newsstands featured photo after photo of them holding hands – their zeroed Timers exposed and blown up all over the pages of whatever magazine people were reading that week – Lena kissing Kara just outside Noonan's, the two of them laughing at Kara's refusal to eat another vegetable at lunch, Lena tucking Kara's hair behind her ear while the blonde gazed back in unabashed adoration.

Seemingly overnight, the pictures were everywhere. Kara had actually, framed a particularly good shot of them dancing forehead-to-forehead at a benefit for the local children's hospital and given it to Lena, who immediately assigned it a place of prominence on her desk. But the pictures kept cropping up – on newsstands, at Kara's work, on gossip sites – and Kara had started to get a bit overwhelmed.

More jarring than the pictures, though, was the constant barrage of chatter from strangers. Within the first 24 hours of their exposure as a couple, the press had uncovered her identity, not as Supergirl, thank Rao, but as mild mannered reporter, Kara Danvers, and her social media account practically exploded with all of the messages and tags and tweets. For almost three weeks the tag #karlena had trended on Twitter and she was forced to deal with the daily comments on her relationship, her clothing, her body from hundreds and hundreds of strangers.

"Lee, why are all these people calling me Mom?" She had asked Lena, "And someone just posted a photo collage that seems to be nothing but me in sleeveless dresses with the caption 'IM GAY.' Where are they even getting all of these pictures? And are they saying _they're_ gay or calling _me_ gay? Because I think that's a bit presumptuous. My arms do look pretty good though..." Lena only laughed before tackling Kara, kissing her senseless.

Eventually, Kara consented to an interview with Catco's celebrity and style reporter and, under James' watchful eye, the published exclusive was tasteful and the photos beautiful. It seemed to satisfy the curiosity of the masses and eventually things settled.

Until Kara made the mistake, a month or so later, of kissing Lena on the cheek while in full Supergirl regalia. Suddenly the dying embers of their relationship-obsessed fans seemed to spark back into a roaring flame once more, strangers now fighting over whether Lena should stay with Kara or ditch her for Supergirl, despite their foreknowledge that she and Lena had zeroed out together. Kara was exhausted by all the third party commentary, but when Lena straddled her lap later than night, knees hugging her hips, tracing delicate fingers over the crest on her chest and pushing her gently down on the bed, she suddenly didn't seem to care anymore.

Kara or Supergirl, #karlena or #supercorp, Lena Luthor still belonged to her and she belonged to Lena.

Lena herself ended up settling the social media ship war after posting that "While the Girl of Steel may occasionally _save_ my life, there's no one I'd rather _spend_ it with than Kara Danvers," and things settled down once more. More or less.

To be honest, the biggest challenge they faced together hadn't come from the press or from some unseen alien threat; rather it came in the form of family, of affection without expectation. Lena, always ready to place her unwavering faith in Kara, had trouble extending that faith, that trust, to others. Always too wary to relax into warmth, the Luthor heiress expected each compliment from any other mouth to come with a blow, each platitude followed by a request. Tenderness was transactional. She had spent years carefully cultivating her self-reliance and autonomy, and found it difficult to open up and trust kindness without the expectation of ulterior motives, which made it difficult when Kara's family accepted her so readily, so suddenly open and affectionate.

It wasn't that she didn't like them, quite the contrary, she just didn't quite understand how to operate within their pre-established dynamic of comfort and warmth.

It was Alex who first broke through; after a handful of failed attempts had ended in strangely clipped tones and cold handshakes, the two of them found common ground when the redhead invited Lena to a convention on new innovations in biomedicine. They had spent the afternoon ogling the shiny, shiny tech – Lena subtly taking notes, mentally unmaking and rebuilding each piece over and over in her mind while Alex continually repeated the mantra "look with your eyes, not with your hands" to herself over and over. At the end of the afternoon, Lena had extended a hand to the agent saying coolly, "thanks for this, Alex, I owe you one."

Kara's sister had cocked her head, almost confused then laughed, outright, "You don't owe me anything, Lena," she paused and flashed her brightest smile at the dark-haired woman, "but I wouldn't mind doing this again some time, I mean, if you want to. I had a lot of fun and it's been a while since I've had someone to geek out over this sort of stuff with. Kara likes science, but she gets hungry and bored after about five seconds and Maggie just calls me a nerd."

"I had fun too. And I'd happily do this again, Alex." Lena smiled, sweet and almost sad, and in that moment Alex caught a glimpse of what had drawn Kara to the Luthor heiress. She took the extended hand and, rather than shaking it, tugged Lena into a loose hug, careful to give the Luthor ample opportunity to withdraw. To her surprise, however, Lena leaned into the contact, returning the embrace with equal warmth.

"Hey, I bet if we put out heads together, we could reverse engineer one of those plasma scalpels." Alex bumped her shoulder as they fell into step.

"Oh, I am _way_ ahead of you."

That night, Lena fell into bed exhausted and slightly singed after working all evening with Alex on their own, improved, prototype.

Once Alex had breeched Lena's defenses, it was only a matter of time until Eliza Danvers descended upon her, taking it upon herself to shower the Luthor with affection, just as she had done for Maggie. Lena's initial reaction was resistant skepticism, but the more she watched Kara with her foster mother, their playful back and forth, the gentle criticism, the genuine care and worry, her easy acceptance of Lena, despite her family name, the more she began to suspect Eliza's warmth might be genuine.

It was there first Thanksgiving together that did it. After a brief argument with Kara, for show more than anything else, Lena allowed herself to be whisked from her office back to Alex's apartment where a host of Kara's friends and family were already waiting, snacking and laughing jovially. She had barely stepped into the apartment before being gathered up into Eliza's welcoming embrace. They separated and stood side by side for a moment, watching as Kara pulled a hot casserole dish from the oven – without mitts – and started bickering with Alex until Maggie cut in with a glass of wine for the elder Danvers sister.

"Look at my beautiful girls," Eliza murmured, her arms slung loosely across Lena's shoulders. "You never know at the outset what life has in store."

"They are extraordinary women," Lena answered.

"They are. And I am so grateful they have _found_ such extraordinary women." Eliza tilted her head, watching Kara lift Alex's wine glass from her hand and pass it back to Maggie, "Life has seen fit to give me amazingly resilient, brilliant daughters and I am so, so thankful.

"When Alex was little, she was always so independent and smart and now she's this confident, kind woman. Then came Kara, so sad and so strong, not just physically, but emotionally too. She never let the hardships she'd suffered deter her from excellence. Then Alex found Maggie, who is so tough and so emotionally complex, she doesn't let Alex get away with anything and they support each other even when it's difficult. Especially then." Eliza paused and both she and Lena shared a laugh as Maggie gave the wine straight back to Alex and Kara called her a traitor. "And then there's you."

Lena swallowed audibly and subconsciously pressed into Eliza's side.

"You, Lena, remind me so much of Kara sometimes. You have both faced such adversity in your relatively short lives, and yet you persevere; more than that, you rise." Lena sniffled a bit, schooling her features so as not to betray her raw reaction to Eliza's unabashedly flattering assessment of her character. "You are unfailingly kind, you place the needs of others before your own, you form your own opinions, draw your own conclusions, you work tirelessly toward the greater good. These are same the qualities I admire most in my girls, the qualities their father and I worked so hard to instill in them. Was there ever any doubt?"

Lena had tipped her chin up toward Eliza, her eyes glassy with unshed tears, "Any doubt?"

"That you belong here, with us? That you were meant to be a part of this family?" Eliza squeezed Lena's shoulder and the Luthor turned into her, allowing herself to be held, smiling through her tears as Eliza rubbed comforting circles into her back.

Now, months later, bathed in the light of a new day, the Luthor heiress and the Girl of Steel lay tangled together, ready to start the next year of their lives together.

"You know what would make this the best anniversary ever?"

"Kara, this is literally our _first_ anniversary. It is, logically speaking, already the best anniversary we've ever had, seeing as there is no other basis for comparison. Though, that would also make it the worst we've ever had." Lena cocked her head thoughtfully, "I suppose in order to create a method for scientifically quantifiable assessment, we'd need more anniversaries. I propose a high volume."

"Lots more anniversaries." Kara nodded, her face drawn in mock seriousness.

"Yes." Lena fingers found Kara's hair again, threading through a mess of curls, drawing her closer, "If only to generate a large enough sample size for accurate results."

"Nerd." Kara smiled and pressed her lips to Lena's. She drew back, "But seriously, you know what would make this an automatic slam dunk, scientifically speaking?"

Lena laughed, in spite of herself, "I'm going to guess pancakes?"

"Yes!" Kara shifted and practically tackled Lena in a flurry of blankets, enthusiastic lips, and wandering hands.

An hour later, certain appetites temporarily sated while others still flared, Lena stood before the range, pouring perfect circles of pancake batter onto the griddle, adding swirls and flurries here and there.

"Space pancakes!" Kara called delightedly as Lena flipped a pancake with rings like Saturn.

"I know they're your favorite." She replied simply, smiling as strong arms slipped around her from behind and the weight of Kara's chin rested against her shoulder.

" _You're_ my favorite," Kara hummed against her neck, placing a kiss just below her ear.

And for a moment, one brief, fleeting moment, Lena sent up a prayer of gratitude and love to no one in particular; gratitude for Timers, for found family, for aliens, and super suits. Gratitude for strong arms and soft kisses and all the time in the world.


End file.
